Customer Reviews

Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn (Official Perfect Guide)

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(8)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Overall this is the best guide on the market, quite thorough and doesn't divuldge any of the plot line (which I love). But there are a few mistakes in the book. Several instances of deviations from the game and the book appeared (would love to go into more detail but I don't want to give any of the game away). Another thing was it didn't tell you anything about some of the very small (but very important) things along the way, like near the end there is a situation between you and NPC and an Evil NPC and they don't tell you how to make it better (this NPC is very important to your character), they say nothing about it, quite annoying, and there is minimal mentioning of the stronghold quests which frustrating especially for the Paladine where you are forced to make extremely difficult decisions. But all in all this is a fantastic guide with very useful tips for battling any and all monsters and bosses. Lists of Magic items and spells, what each does and where they are (very helpful). Key item locations and solutions to those tough riddles. I suggest running throught the game once before you use this book, just to see how you do for fun, then making a run through with this book and see everything you missed. At some points this book is an extremely valuable resourse, especially when trying to sort through the dozens and dozens of side quests (they can be overwhelming at times). Excellent tool. When you get stuck (and you will) you will be glad you bought it, trust me.

Do you need this guide to play Baldur's Gate 2? If you want to get absolutely everything you can out of the game, not missing any quests, etc., then it's a must. If you want occasional help because you can't figure something out, the discussion boards at Interplay are a much cheaper way to go.

This guide contains detailed information on all of the classes, a walk-through of the critical path to win the game, a walk-through of side quests, and then monster, spell, item, and lots of other statistics. A plethora of detail, so much that it's sometimes hard to find specifically what you're looking for, especially in the walk-throughs.

The book also contains a lot of phrases like "Ugh... the most frustrating piece of ( ) spell ever put in a game" and "Nalia is nothing more than a fresh lil' hotty with an attitude". Neither of those are very helpful, nor do they impart any information I really need to know to play the game. To me, they're annoying and definitely unnecessary.

You can learn as little or as much as you want about this amazing game. you can get hints or all out spoilers through out the game, which is nice, because reading something that ruins the plot ruins the entire game.

the books goes into extensive knowledge about most NPC's, items, and the different quest throughout the game. i give it 4 stars, because to me 5 stars is unattainable.

This was a mixed bag of treasure and trash. The screenshots and maps are excellent, but the writing left a LOT to be desired. First, numerous typos and misinformation (for example, listing an item as found in one place when it's found somewhere else) made for a lot of frustration and confusion. Second, there is far too much glossed over, such as the different strongholds and the NPC quests; the main reason given was that most people would play through the game only once and therefore didn't need the in-depth explanations. Personally, if I buy an RPG that has several different play options, such as various character types, I play it through several times just to see how the different mix works; besides, you really get your money's worth that way! Lastly, the walkthrough and descriptions sounded like they were written by Wayne & Garth... "serious swonage", "really doesn't give a crap", "deformed-looking chicks" (referring to the female NPCs), etc. Versus Books should realize that not all RPG gamers are teenage boys; there are a lot of us women who love playing but don't appreciate that type of juvenile expression. All in all, this book is good if you're stuck and need help, or need a map of an area, but I didn't find it nearly as useful as I hoped.

Like the other reviewers here, I found this book to be less helpful than I would have liked. Very pretty, many nice charts, but flawed. Perhaps most annoying is the rah-rah adolescent writing style that sacrifices substance for style. MANY typos, which is inexcusable and tells you something about the quality that went into the text. There are many online strategy guides that are much better in content, thought maybe not in quantity. I mainly used this book for a quick-review type guide when I was playing the game and couldn't get to the information I had downloaded. The walkthrough section (which only covers the main quests) is very good and I liked have all the information about everything (spells, monsters, items etc.) in one place. Use this book as an introduction and a review, but if you really want to know the details about playing the game, go to the online sites and forums.

If you're looking for a comprehensive source of BG2 info, then look no further than Versus Books BG2 guide. Yes, there were a few errors here and there, which didn't bother me all that much. But isn't that always the case with every guidebook you read?

Some specific things I really liked were:

*Complete items lists shown as you play
*Interesting extra details shown as supplements
*Written by a gamer (you can tell)
*Cool graphic design

Overall, an awesome guide for a VERY awesome game.

Ok, so I made sure I read all the reviews first to get a general idea if it was worth the hefty price. Based on what I read I decided to get it. What a mistake. Sure, the book looks outstanding, plenty of full color and detailed maps, great character, NPC, monster spell and equipment lists... I just found it to be really lacking in information. There was so much left out about areas that I came across on my own and would have loved to know more about. While I didn't expect a step-by-step walkthrough, I did expect the covered areas to be a little more informative. I also didn't like the way it was written, "Duh!", "If you're playing a multiplayer game (like we TOLD you to do)...", "...you have to admit that she's pretty darn hot, eh?". There were times I felt like they were speaking to a moron and I didn't appreciate that at all. Well, I bought it and I'm stuck with it, for now, but I can safely say I wouldn't purchase another guide from Versus again, unless their writing staff grows up.

I like this guide very much. No information about the main plot is given besides what strictly necessary to complete each quest. This is an approach I value for I can read some of the "spoilers" and still be enthralled by the story. You might wish to try hard at BGII before buying the perfect guide, but I believe it still is a must own for the pictures, the organization, the wealth of information. I would have appreciated a section with comments from the game designers, but one cannot have everything. I am totally happy with this guide and I recommend it to all those players who want to know everything, see everythig, do everything - or just plain gander through an excellent design.

Not very helpful in actually getting you through the game, since there are numerous errors and quite obvious typos (one that is repeated several times refers you to "page ????" - think they rushed into production and didn't quite finish editing). On the other hand, the full color illustrations are nice and there are a number of detailed maps, which unfortunately are not keyed to the numbered events in the text. The item list in the back is nice to have but also incomplete and with some errors.
Since you're probably going to have to buy it used at this point and pay way more than the original price (I did, anyway), think about whether you want this just for the not-totally-complete maps and item lists. The text is juvenile and the plot line is incomplete, so don't buy it for that. There are wonderfully detailed guides free for the downloading available on line, so if you wants hints and walkthroughs, get one of them, not this.

First off, this guide does give you a lot of detail about character class, items, quests, and monsters(though combat stradegy is a bit amaturishly written). The author is a rude charlaton for lack of a better word(Just getting into charater with the game) who doesn't know how to play the game. For one thing, as I said in another reivew of ToB's 'Perfect' guide, he is saying play the game his way, or else. Well, there are many ways to play SoA. When I wrote this guy about stats for characters he wrote back saying that my paladin with CHR at 18 "was just plain stupid" to put it in his words. I think not. CHR was not even the stat I was asking about. In my opinion 18 for a paladin, if anything else gives you fringe bennifits not found at 17, like higher rewards for quests ect. Anyway(s) he was rude and I'm blaming it on Versus. I think players can make desisions for themselves thank you. Clean up your act people!